Bach: Complete Keyboard Concertos (CD review)

First, a word about Bach’s “complete” keyboard concertos.
The “complete” business isn’t quite true, as Bach actually wrote not only the
seven harpsichord concertos we hear on the present set but three more concertos
for two harpsichords, two concertos for three harpsichords, and another
concerto for four harpsichords. Additionally, he wrote miscellaneous other
concertos in which the harpsichord plays a supporting role. All the same, this
Warner set contains the seven Bach concertos for solo harpsichord, which we now
know as the “keyboard” concertos because even though Bach originally wrote them
for harpsichord, performers for years have also been playing them on the organ,
fortepiano, and, as performed here, piano.

Next, a word about the solo artist, Julia Zilberquit, a
Russian-born American who has won acclaim as an orchestral soloist, recitalist,
chamber musician, and recording artist. The New
York Times hailed her as “an outstanding soloist” following a 2012 Carnegie
Hall concert with the American Symphony Orchestra. She has recorded several
albums that have also garnered good reviews and performed worldwide with the
Moscow Virtuosi, among other leading ensembles. She graduated from the Moscow
Gnessin School of Music and Juilliard School and currently lives in New York
with her husband and two children.

Finally, a word about the recording and its record
company. As you know, in 2013 Warner Classics bought EMI Classics and are now
starting to reissue some of EMI’s older recordings. But this isn’t one of them.
The Zilberquit set derives from a recording session in 2001, the discs released
the next year by American Heritage Society. The folks at Warner Classics
reissued the set in 2013 on their own label. Don’t ask.

To complicate things further, the set begins and ends not
with any of Bach’s seven original keyboard concertos but with a pair of works
he transcribed for organ and orchestra from originals for two violins, cello,
and orchestra written by his inspiration in concerto matters, Antonio Vivaldi.
Ms. Zilberquit further arranges the two pieces for keyboard (in this case
piano) and orchestra. In between the Bach-Vivaldi-Zilberquit arrangements, we
get the seven purely Bach keyboard concertos. Almost, except, as I say, that
Ms. Zilberquit plays them on a modern piano, and the accompanying Moscow
Virtuosi perform them on modern instruments. Close enough; it’s still enjoyable
music, well played.

On disc one of this two-disc set you’ll the aforementioned
Bach-Vivaldi Concerto in D minor, BWV
593, for keyboard and chamber orchestra, transcribed by Ms. Zilberquit.
Following that are Bach’s own Concerto in
D minor, BWV 1052; Concerto in E
major, BWV 1053; and Concerto in D
major, BWV 1054. On disc two we find Concerto
in A major, BWV 1055; Concerto in F
minor, BWV 1056; Concerto in F major,
BWV 1057; Concerto in G minor, BWV
1058; closing with the Bach-Vivaldi Concerto
in A minor, BWV 596.

Probably the most popular item in the collection is the
first one, BWV 1052, which Bach may have based on a now-lost violin concerto he
wrote previously. Bach and his contemporaries often reused their own material
and that of others. There were no copyright laws back then, and people
considered imitation a high form of flattery. Note, for instance, that
Shakespeare and his pals a century or more earlier based almost all of their
plays on stories and histories already well known. It was sort of a custom of
the times, whereas today we value originality above all. Anyway, Ms. Zilberquit
approaches BWV 1052, as she does the others, with a dramatic flair that makes
the music perhaps even more serious than it really is. Her manner displays a
robust tension and release and exudes both a thoughtful intent and a feeling of
playfulness at the same time. These are, in fact, qualities she exhibits
throughout the set, and I found them most attractive. All nine concertos
resonant with lively good will and, in the case of the slow middle movements, a
keen sense of poignancy, tranquility, and reflection.

The Moscow Virtuosi under the direction of Maestro Saulius
Sondeckis provide Ms. Zilberquit a precise and sympathetic accompaniment, the
soloist and orchestra sharing almost equally in their musical duties but with
Ms. Zilberquit coming out perhaps a nose ahead. It is her playing, after all,
that you will remember most when you've finished listening, and you'll find it
quite accomplished.

Incidentally, if you recognize much of this keyboard
music, especially BWV 1057, from Bach's Brandenburg
Concertos among other things, remember that he and his friends were fond of
reusing their own material. Waste not, want not, I suppose.

The packaging is a simple fold-over cardboard case with
the discs slipping into the front and back sleeves. Unfortunately, this doesn’t
provide any place for the booklet notes, written by Ms. Zilberquit, except in
one of the sleeves with a disc. This makes getting the notes or the disc a
little difficult to get out without dropping one or the other or scratching the
disc. A minor concern in any case.

Producer Vadim Ivanov and engineer Vitaly Ivanov recorded
the music at The Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Moscow in September
2001. Everything is a little close, yet it's also warm and smooth so it's still
comfortable on the ear. The piano is front and center, of course, but not
really in our face, and when the full ensemble comes in, Ms. Zilberquit sounds
nicely integrated into the group. Depth of field appears moderate, dynamics are
adequate, object definition is a tad soft, and frequency extensions meet the
occasion. It's good, though not audiophile, sound.

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John J. Puccio

About the Author

Understand, I'm just an everyday guy reacting to something I love. And I've been doing it for a very long time, my appreciation for classical music starting with the musical excerpts on The Big John and Sparkie radio show in the early Fifties and the purchase of my first recording, The 101 Strings Play the Classics, around 1956. In the late Sixties I began teaching high school English and Film Studies as well as becoming interested in hi-fi, my audio ambitions graduating me from a pair of AR-3 speakers to the Fulton J's recommended by The Stereophile's J. Gordon Holt. In the early Seventies, I began writing for a number of audio magazines, including Audio Excellence, Audio Forum, The Boston Audio Society Speaker, The American Record Guide, and from 1976 until 2008, The $ensible Sound, for which I served as Classical Music Editor.

Today, I'm retired from teaching and use a pair of bi-amped VMPS RM40s loudspeakers for my listening. In addition to writing the Classical Candor blog, I served as the Movie Review Editor for the Web site Movie Metropolis (formerly DVDTown) from 1997-2013. Music and movies. Life couldn't be better.

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It is the goal of Classical Candor to promote the enjoyment of classical music. Other forms of music come and go--minuets, waltzes, ragtime, blues, jazz, bebop, country-western, rock-'n'-roll, heavy metal, rap, and the rest--but classical music has been around for hundreds of years and will continue to be around for hundreds more. It's no accident that every major city in the world has one or more symphony orchestras.

When I was young, I heard it said that only intellectuals could appreciate classical music, that it required dedicated concentration to appreciate. Nonsense. I'm no intellectual, and I've always loved classical music. Anyone who's ever seen and enjoyed Disney's Fantasia or a Looney Tunes cartoon playing Rossini's William Tell Overture or Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 can attest to the power and joy of classical music, and that's just about everybody.

So, if Classical Candor can expand one's awareness of classical music and bring more joy to one's life, more power to it. It's done its job.

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